Report: iTunes Movie Rentals Lacking

Apple Inc.'s nascent iTunes movie rental service is reportedly about 600 titles shy of the 1,000 pledged by media giant at the end of February.

Writing in Macworld.com, Christopher Breen said he found 351 titles available for rent via his Apple TV, 378 movies through iTunes and 770 combining rental and sellthrough.

The author said Apple was close to the promised 100 high-definition titles (91), although not all were available in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.

David Kaplan, writing in PaidContent.org, said the shortfall of titles shouldn't hurt Apple in the near term, but a prolonged dearth of selections would likely endear users to Netflix Inc.'s on demand streaming service, which offers 6,000 titles.